You started a repair and plan to change the wallpaper? Then you have to choose not only the new color scheme of the room and high-quality wallpaper, but also in the supplies needed for the work. What glue do you use?
Advantages and disadvantages of homemade glue
Now on sale a huge assortment of various wallpaper adhesives. But very often, many housewives do not buy store mixes, but learn recipes on how to cook home-made paste, and use only it.
For what reasons? Homemade glue has several advantages:
- saving your budget, since boiled paste will cost you much cheaper, unlike branded factory glues;
- it interacts well with surfaces primed with drying oil or coated with oil paint;
- glue provides guaranteed quick future repairs, since wallpaper glued with a paste is easily removed and does not leave a mark on the walls.
But at the same time, you need to anticipate the problems that arise when using home glue. Even in those cases, if you know well how to weld a paste, and use it more than once, troubles can appear. We list the main ones:
- the main disadvantage is the long drying period of the wallpaper after pasting, because of which they can “shrink” and not always “stretch” during the drying process;
- the need to waste time preparing and cooling the composition;
- short shelf life of home glue, especially in the hot season.
Secrets of how to cook paste
Drawing conclusions from the foregoing, it is possible to slightly improve the familiar composition of home paste, while improving its characteristics. For example, when PVA glue is added, strength is enhanced and the drying time of surfaces is reduced. And if alum or carbolic acid is introduced into the composition, this will significantly increase the shelf life of the finished composition.
Get acquainted with the usual way of cooking. It is worth noting immediately that the composition of home glue may be different. But, regardless of whether you cook a flour paste or prepare a starch paste, the procedure and stages of work remain the same.
- Flour is better to take low grades, which will provide higher stickiness. Starch is better to use potato.
- How to weld a paste without lumps? Consider the important rule - continuous stirring during cooking.
- Take 200-250 g of flour or starch. Gradually pouring them into 0.5 l of cold water, stir with a spoon until a uniform consistency is obtained.
- Pour 0.5 liters of hot water into the resulting mixture without interrupting stirring.
- Put on fire and bring to a boil. In case of excessive density pour a little boiling water, “whipping” with a spoon.
- But, if nevertheless the cooked paste turned out with lumps - strain through cheesecloth.
As you can see, time-tested home recipes remain quite popular among craftsmen. By the way, this glue is perfect not only for repair work, it can also be used in applied arts with children, namely when creating applications from paper, cardboard and fabric.